4.2.5 Much discussed are also the class of ¢nty-“, “those who gov-
ern the lake(?).”^188 They were the inhabitants of the pyramid towns,^189
whose basic obligation was performance of the mortuary cult for the
deceased king. These people could also be exempt from military ser-
vice and corvée labor.^190 They are registered apparently in special
offices.^191 Mr.tcould themselves be dependent on such ¢nty-“.^1924.2.6 Other terms may also represent a particular legal status, such
as nswtyw, “royal ones,” which Goedicke takes to be “royal lessees”
(“Königspächter”)^193 and “pacified Nubian.”^194 Persons described as
fisw.whave been understood as “wage earners.”^195 The common word
rm∆, “man, person,” may in some contexts have the sense of “depen-
dent, servant.”^196(^188) Lorton, “Legal and Social Institutions.. .,” 351. The translation of “is uncer-
tain (= ““work,” Eyre, “Work.. .,” 35). The title is often rendered “tenant land-
holder,” but as Ann Roth observes, they seem to have carried out religious functions
as well. They are organized in divisions, with their own inspectors, and often appear
in the Abu Sir Papyri; see Roth, “Organization.. .,” 119. See further Eyre, “Feudal
Tenure.. .,” 111 and “Peasants.. .,” 377; Hafemann, “Staatl. I.. .,” 14–15; Helck,
Wirtschaftsgeschichte.. ., 66; Eichler, Untersuchungen.. ., 264.
(^189) Goedicke, Königliche Dokumente.. ., 60–61.
(^190) Loprieno, Egyptians.. ., 193.
(^191) Urk. 1, 211, 5, seems to deal with the registration of the mortuary tenant
farmers (¢nty-“) r s.t ¢.t.
(^192) Goedicke believes that mr.tare associated with private persons, while ¢nty-“
are associated with kings (Königliche Dokumente.. ., 61).
(^193) Ibid., 134–35. Cf. Lichtheim, who proposes “serfs,” or similar (AEL1, 162)
and Baer, “some kind of small freeholder” (“Letters,” 13). Müller-Wöllermann reads
sw.tyw, and takes them to be a social group which possesses and alienates land.
They are, in her view, colonizing farmers sent to prepare fields for cultivation.
Garcia proposes “dependents attached to the service of the king” (“Administration.. .,”
124–25). See further Endesfelder, “Zum Stand.. .,” cols. 8–9; Gödecken, Meten...,
294–95; Eyre, “Peasants.. .,” 377; Eyre, “Work.. .,” 34; Helck, Wirtschaftsgeschichte...,
101.
(^194) See Helck, Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 113; Goedicke, Königliche Dokumente.. ., 62–63
(“auxiliary troops”).
(^195) Gödecken,Meten.. ., 287. Eyre suggests either “wage-earners” or “a type of
slave” (“Work.. .,” 25). See further Loprieno, Egyptians.. ., 195–96; Goedicke, “Bilat-
eral.. .,” 84 and Rechtsinschriften.. ., 184; Müller-Wöllermann, “Warenaustausch...,”
147–48.
(^196) Goedicke, Rechtsinschriften.. ., 7. Cf. also the designations of dependent per-
sons compounded with ≈.tor pr-≈.t, Perepelkin, Rechtsinschriften.. ., 164–72.
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